The land did not recover.
Not truly.
As Yuto and the others withdrew from the basin, the proto-domain behind them remained unnervingly quiet, too quiet. Mana flowed again, yes, but it moved like a river after a dam crack: strained, redirected, uncertain of its own course.
The air itself felt thinner.
Yuto noticed it first when his breath came a fraction slower than usual.
Not fatigue.
Resistance.
[Advisor: "Confirmation: ambient mana density has decreased by 6.4% across a five-kilometer radius."]
"So the land's bleeding," Yuto muttered.
[ Advisor: "More accurately, it is reallocating resources."]
"Upward."
[Advisor: "Toward Ven'rael."]
Seraphina glanced back over her shoulder. "The pressure's gone… but I feel worse than before."
Elira nodded. "Because now it isn't testing. It's preparing."
Zarek cracked his neck uneasily. "I preferred the staring pit."
Mimi shivered. "The ground feels… hungry."
They didn't argue.
---
By the time they returned to the outer perimeter of Nerulia Haven, the first omen appeared.
A tremor.
Not violent, measured.
Like a breath taken by something unimaginably large.
The city walls groaned softly as dust trickled from stone seams. Birds fled the nearby forests in chaotic waves, darkening the sky for a heartbeat before scattering.
Citizens paused mid-step.
Mid-sentence.
Then the tremor passed.
Silence followed.
Too much silence.
Lyra rushed toward them from the infirmary district, her expression tight. "Yuto—several patients just relapsed. Not corruption, but mana shock. Their bodies rejected ambient flow for a moment."
Yuto's jaw tightened. "How many?"
"Twenty-three so far."
[Advisor: "Note: Non-overlord territories experience instability when an overlord-class entity approaches partial awakening."]
"So this is the ripple," Yuto said quietly.
Seraphina clenched her fists. "If this continues, the city..."
"I know."
He looked up.
The sky had changed.
Not visibly, not in a way most would notice—but the clouds moved differently now, drifting in subtle spirals that converged far to the east.
Toward the corrupted lands.
Toward Ven'rael.
---
Deep beneath shattered mountains and crystallized corruption, something ancient shifted.
Ven'rael did not wake.
Not fully.
But it dreamed.
And that was worse.
In its half-slumber, its will leaked into the world, not as intent, but as instinct. The land closest to it bowed unconsciously, mana bending like grass under wind.
Stone remembered fear.
Fire remembered obedience.
And spirits...
Spirits felt called.
---
Yuto staggered suddenly.
Elira caught him instantly. "Yuto!"
He steadied himself, teeth clenched.
[Advisor: "Spirit resonance spike detected. External call frequency matches high-tier draconic authority."]
"…It's calling spirits," Yuto whispered.
Seraphina's eyes widened. "Calling… you?"
"Not just me," he replied. "All spirits. Lesser ones. Unbound ones. Anything that can hear."
Mimi hugged her tail tighter. "That's cheating."
Zarek snorted. "Dragons always cheat."
Yuto forced a slow breath.
"Advisor. Worst-case scenario?."
[ Advisor: "If Ven'rael's dream-state persists unchecked, spirit populations within a hundred-kilometer radius will experience forced alignment or dissolution."]
"So I either answer the call..."
[Advisor: " or you lose what you're protecting."]
Silence fell.
The weight of leadership pressed heavier than any authority suppression.
Elira looked at him, voice trembling but resolute. "Tell us what to do."
Yuto closed his eyes.
For a moment, he remembered something simple: clearing dungeons, fighting monsters, surviving day to day.
That world felt distant now.
"I won't answer the call," he said finally.
Seraphina frowned. "Then how do we stop it?"
Yuto opened his eyes, silver-blue light flickering faintly.
"We don't stop it."
He looked east.
"We prepare to endure it."
---
Over the next hours, the signs multiplied.
Mana wells fluctuated unpredictably. Crops infused with spirit energy wilted overnight, while others grew wildly out of control. Constructs powered by ambient mana stalled or overheated.
Nerulia Haven strained under invisible pressure.
Yuto convened the city's core leaders within the council hall, still unfinished, wooden beams exposed, but reinforced with spirit-etched stone.
"This is not an attack," he said, addressing them plainly. "Not yet. But the world around us is being reshaped."
A Nerulian elder spoke shakily. "By the dragon."
"Yes."
Murmurs spread.
Another voice rose. "Can we evacuate?"
Yuto shook his head. "There is nowhere safe from an awakening overlord-class dragon."
That silenced the room.
"We reinforce infrastructure manually," Yuto continued. "Reduce reliance on ambient mana. Ground everything—literally. Physical anchors. Spirit stabilizers."
Zarek grinned. "Finally, something I can hit with a hammer."
Lyra added, "I'll reorganize the infirmary..., prepare for mana rejection cases."
Seraphina nodded. "We'll rotate patrols. If spirits start acting strangely, we contain, not destroy."
All eyes returned to Yuto.
"And you?" Elira asked quietly.
He hesitated.
[Advisor: "Answer carefully. This is where legends fracture."]
"I go east," Yuto said.
Not into the corrupted lands.
Not yet.
"I find the edge of Ven'rael's influence, and I push back."
Seraphina stiffened. "Alone, again?.."
Yuto met her gaze. "This isn't a battle. It's… resistance."
Elira stepped forward. "You can't keep shouldering everything."
"I know," Yuto replied softly. "But this part...this threshold, only I can stand here."
...
---
That night, the city slept fitfully.
Yuto stood again at the tower's edge, watching the distant horizon glow faintly red not from fire, but from mana distortion.
Elira joined him silently.
"You're scared," she said.
He nodded.
"So am I," she admitted, then smiled faintly. "But I believe in you anyway."
He glanced at her, surprised.
She looked away, cheeks warm. "Don't make it weird."
[ Advisor: "Too late."]
Yuto chuckled softly.
Below them, Nerulia Haven endured.., fragile, stubborn, alive.
Far away, Ven'rael's dream deepened.
And the distance between overlord and not-yet-overlord grew thinner by the hour.
---